Readers' forum: Could U. play on Sunday?

Comments

The writer seems to think that it's fine for the NFL to play on Sundays but not
colleges. Why the disconnect? Is it that NFL players are professionals and
college players are ... um ... college players. Wait a second. Aren't those
"college players" at least a little on the professional side, too?
They receive something of value in exchange for the time they spend practicing
and playing, don't they? They receive pocket money as part of their
"scholarships." It seems they're professionals as well as NFL players
so that distinction makes no sense.

Here's another issue. Why is
the writer limiting his problem to football? Doesn't Utah play basketball, too?
I know that I have watched college basketball on Sundays. Checking other sports
and the schedule of my wonderful Duke Blue Devils, I find everything from field
hockey to volleyball (both sexes) being played on Sundays both in the past and
in the future. There's no reason to suppose the PAC-12 is different from the
Atlantic Coast Conference. If the writer has an issue with Sunday play, why is
he so concerned about football that he excludes the other sports? Case closed.
Quod erat demonstrandum.

HutteriteAmerican Fork, UT

July 6, 2011 5:53 p.m.

We refer to it as a 'game', and the participants as 'players'. Surely this is a
good as a post dated cheque at walmart? God apparently does not audit.

JustGordonCottonwood Heights, UT

July 6, 2011 5:17 p.m.

Frank do you watch former Ute and Cougar players who are LDS play in the NFL on
Sunday? Say it ain't so.

Ernest T. BassBountiful, UT

July 6, 2011 4:23 p.m.

I've never seen a PAC football game on Sunday. There are some bball games and
I'm sure other sports play on Sunday.Why is that a problem? 2,000 years
ago the Sabbath was on Saturday. It is still on Saturday for some denominations.
Why does it matter what someone else does on Sunday or Saturday for that matter?

Ernest T. BassBountiful, UT

July 6, 2011 4:19 p.m.

Do you boycott Jazz for playing on Sunday?Do you boycott resturants that
are open on Sunday?Do you boycott movie theaters & gas stations for
being open on Sunday? Do you read the D-news Sunday edition?Do you watch
TV on Sunday, or boycott TV and radio stations the opperate on Sundays?Sounds like you have an odd bone to pick.

10CCBountiful, UT

July 6, 2011 4:05 p.m.

Larry Scott is anything but a fool. I would be very surprised if Utah played
any home games on Sunday. But Sunday games on the road? Watch the TV ratings
soar.

LDS in Utah are largely observant of the sabbath, but that
definition doesn't include abstaining from TV. When I was a kid there were
parents who taught their kids not to watch TV or even listen to the radio on
Sunday. As a teenager, many of those kids would go to a General Authority's
house to watch NFL games. He would watch with us!

DutchmanMurray, UT

July 6, 2011 3:18 p.m.

If Frank is going to cancel his support of Utah athletics because a game is
played on Sunday, shouldn't he and all others like him including fans of other
schools drop their support now because those schools recruit and prepare kids
for a career that plays the games on Sunday?

CrusaderLayton, UT

July 6, 2011 2:08 p.m.

Due to the fact that God loves football, and recommends rest on Sundays. Seems
to me that he would like to see us rest and watch a football game on Sunday.

hackbart53Tulsa, OK

July 6, 2011 12:50 p.m.

Saturday football is the college tradition and Sunday football is the pro
tradition. I found it a profoundly religious experience watching Steve Young
play football all those Sundays, with an occasional Monday Night (the other
sabbath) game thrown in. I'm just glad that LDS meetings end early enough on
Super Bowl Sunday to see the game.

Mike RichardsSouth Jordan, Utah

July 6, 2011 11:50 a.m.

re: govt rocks | 11:24 a.m. July 6, 2011

Your form of worship is
between you and God. You don't answer to me. I cannot absolve you of your duty
to keep the commandments. The words are plain enough for everyone to
understand. Whether you WANT to understand them or not is not my business. God
did not make me a steward over you and your family. He gave YOU that great
privilege, a privilege which will require an accounting when you stand before
Him.

The commandment is more complex than you may think:

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."

"Six
days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:"

"But the
seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any
work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:"

"For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in
them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day,
and hallowed it."

govt rocksSalt Lake City, UT

July 6, 2011 11:24 a.m.

Mike richards:

Can't we do both? I respectfully submit that there
are far different ways to respect a diety, regardless of which diety an
individual believes in, if any and that part of keeping a day "holy"
is to honor that diety, or lack of one, in any manner that one sees fit to do
so.

CarsonProvo, UT

July 6, 2011 10:53 a.m.

Frank, you won't have a problem selling your seats, believe me the waiting list
is long. Stop trying to force your personal believes on others. Do what's right
for you, and allow others their free agency to make their own choices.

atl134Salt Lake City, UT

July 6, 2011 10:17 a.m.

"Utah, the new kid on the block and who has yet to show it can even play
the game"

If I remember correctly, over the last 10 years Utah
and BYU are effectively tied with each other head to head. So I guess BYU
doesn't know how to play the game either by your logic.

Mike RichardsSouth Jordan, Utah

July 6, 2011 10:07 a.m.

The question is not about sports, it is about keeping the Sabbath. As Dave
pointed out, some keep it on days other than Sunday, but most of us in Utah
observe the sabbath on Sunday.

Some think they can worship God in
the football stadium. I've never had success pretending that God attends
sporting events on the sabbath.

It's a question of priorities and
it's a question of loyalty. What is our top priority in life? Is it to be
self-serving or is it to be a follower of Diety? If our top priority is to
follow God, then how can we be loyal to Him if we reject His commandment to keep
the sabbath day holy?

lost in DCWest Jordan, UT

July 6, 2011 9:41 a.m.

Esquire,"Utah, the new kid on the block and who has yet to show it
can even play the game"

2004 and 2008 didn't show it?

I'm sure someone will correct me if I tallied incorrectly, but I've got Utah
going 91-33 since 2001, 16-8 vs BCS schools during that time, and 6-5 against
PAC10 schools.

No, Utah can play the game.

govt rocksSalt Lake City, UT

July 6, 2011 8:29 a.m.

I will be there come rine or shine, day or night, any day of the week. Can't
wait for college football. If the NFL is not playing on Sunday, I will gladly
accept college games, especially the Utes, filling some slots on Sunday.
Besides, there are other religions that view Saturday as the sabath. They seem
to function well despite all of the events that occur on any given Saturday
throughout the year.

GrundleWest Jordan, UT

July 6, 2011 8:21 a.m.

I just checked the pac-10 schedule 2010 and 2011 for Sunday games...Not one.

It seems they have done well for themselves without Sunday games.

Chris BryantSLC, UT

July 6, 2011 8:14 a.m.

This letter-writer is being a little bit of a drama-queen. I always love
threats that "ill cancel my subscription if you don't conform to what I
want!!!!!!" Those threats are typically empty.

As far as the
Utes playing on sunday, I think Larry Scott understands what he is doing. In
all likelihood, you will see Utah play road games on sunday. Even if they play
a home game on sunday, the stadium will probaly fill up.

KassSLC, UT

July 6, 2011 7:55 a.m.

So Frank thinks that one school should have the right to dictate to 11 other
schools what days football games can be played on?

And he is
threatening to punish the school and the players for something over which they
have no power and control?

All because it violates his personal
religious beliefs?

Nothing like those great religious values of
coercion and force....

custerBoise, ID

July 6, 2011 7:50 a.m.

Frank, I appreciate your sentiments, but Sunday play is what to expect when your
school joins the Pac 12. The prospect of the Utes playing football on Sunday
should not be surprising, since the Pac 12 already schedules many sporting
events on Sunday--including basketball. This is probably the main reason BYU was
not invited to join.

hackbart53Tulsa, OK

July 6, 2011 7:30 a.m.

Frank, I like your letter and agree with your sentiments and am encouraged by
your comments, but I am pretty sure that the stadium will still be nearly full
on Sundays, especially if one of the big name schools is here, just like the
Energy Solutions Arena, or whatever it is called now is full when the Jazz are
in town on Sundays. Truly, I doubt Chris Hill is particularly sensitive to
feelings like yours anyway in this regard. Go Sooners.

three11stuSaratoga Springs, UT

July 6, 2011 7:29 a.m.

I seem to remember when the Jazz were in the NBA finals and played at home on
Sundays. They didn't seem to have a problem with attendance during those games.

GroverSalt Lake City, UT

July 6, 2011 6:58 a.m.

As usual Frank needs to face facts here: if the team wins they can do whatever
they like, whenever they like. If they lose, fans will blame anyone and everyone
for the results. If the NFL is not playing on Sunday this year, college football
would be looking at a huge windfall to fill those time slots and the threats of
a few religious Utahns will not stop the stampede to do so.

davePark City, UT

July 6, 2011 6:50 a.m.

I have no problem with Sunday play. They are a state school, not a religious
school. Plus, not everyone believes that Sunday is the Sabbath. The biblical
Sabbath is Saturday and the day was changed by the Catholic church.

Lifelong RepublicanOrem, UT

July 6, 2011 6:41 a.m.

Unfortunately it isn't a matter of if this will happen but when it will happen.

EsquireSpringville, UT

July 6, 2011 6:10 a.m.

Sorry, Frank, but the PAC 12 is not dominated by Utah schools as was the MWC.
Sunday games are highly likely, including for Utah, the new kid on the block
and who has yet to show it can even play the game. They will have no power to
stop Sunday games.

EJMHerriman, UT

July 6, 2011 2:20 a.m.

Probably not alone but if the conference did order it in the future then sell me
your seats for the game?

atl134Salt Lake City, UT

July 6, 2011 12:14 a.m.

I wonder how many people against this are just fine with watching NFL games on
sundays.